The Beat goes on... Dave Wakeling on getting back on the road again

Malcolm Wyatt

As California-based Dave Wakeling plans his UK return and a series of dates on this side of the Atlantic promoting a new LP by The Beat – 36 years after the last – MALCOLM WYATT got the lowdown from their acclaimed singer-songwriter

It gets confusing with bands doing the rounds again all these years on, not least when members go their separate ways, starting their own versions of the same group.

The Beat's Dave Wakeling on stage

The Beat are no exception, their co-frontmen leading their own bands under the old banner, with further confusion as they were always The English Beat in the US, avoiding legal issues. But according to Dave Wakeling, there’s no animosity with old pal Ranking Roger.

“We seem really good friends. I went to his house, we had a pot of tea together and a lovely talk, and there’s some chance we may work together next year with the 2 Tone 40th anniversary.

“It’s just that we both like our own Beat a bit better than the other!”

There was also Beat bandmates David Steele and Andy Cox forming Fine Young Cannibals. In retrospect, you were all pulling in different directions, a split almost inevitable.

“I think so. The wonderful thing is we ended up making songs people can still be bothered about today. That’s tremendous.

“You go into a bar and a band will be doing your song. That knocks you sideways.

“To have one of your songs still mean something after nearly 40 years – you can’t pay for that. It’s the most wonderful gift a troubadour can ever have.”

“I found out what pub they were using, putting £500 behind the bar. Whenever you asked if he wanted a drink, he’d say, ‘Get me two beers.’ So when the funeral crowd came in I had someone shout that.”

Yet Saxa appears on this album.

“I played some of the songs to him. He couldn’t play but was still in great form, humming melodies for me. Our sax player learned those and it sounds just like Saxa. It’s just a pity he’s not here to hear it.”

Did Dave spot a recent social media post about The Beat playing Stand Down Margaret on ITV’s Tiswas spin-off OTT in April 1982?

“Yeah. I remember that very well. It was filmed in Birmingham and we did Tiswas quite a lot.

“I suppose I can tell you now – we were Lenny Henry’s backing band on I Am a Mole and I Live in a Hole.”

Do you think Stand Down Margaret inspired The Specials’ Free Nelson Mandela four years later?

“Maybe. I just liked that it went down as the politest protest song

ever. I think it says please over 30 times. Very English of us.

“What else is interesting – and sad – is that a lot of issues from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s have come back – the spectre of nuclear war, fear of immigrants, people making ends meet. Striking similarities.”